An Idiot's Guide to Current Music

Archive for February, 2010

After some thought about this, I’ve decided to start blogging. I guess in the end, it’s not a huge decision, since I think everyone has a blog these days, but I tend to over analyze everything. So my first issue was what do I write about, and does anyone actually care what I have to say? In the end, the latter question is probably no. So I figured that I’d focus on the former.

So what to write about? I don’t know that I’m an overly interesting person. I’m in my late 20’s, an accountant, married with 2 kids. There’s literally nothing in my day to day life that I would think is worth writing about. So what am I interested in? Well, my family is interesting, but stories about what kids say get old after a while. I like sports, but not enough to write about it on a semi-regular basis. I am a Christian and a conservative, but in my non confrontational self, I’d prefer to not write about things that will end with people getting mad at me or each other(again, this is assuming someone is reading this).

So this leads me to music. For a while I thought I was fairly well listened (not sure if this is a word, I’m thinking along the same lines as someone who is well read) until I realized that I couldn’t name anything worth listening to that had come out in the past 5 years. What I decided was that I needed to figure out what wasn’t on the radio that I should be listening to. I read a few publications and blogs, but it’s a little overwhelming when starting from scratch.

Which brings me to why I’m writing this. This is for anyone who wants to have an insight on current music. Notice I don’t say popular music. You don’t need some schlub like me to tell you what’s good on the radio. For example, if you watched the Grammy’s this year, you would have no idea that that Animal Collective put out an album last year and was considered the top album by many critics (I did not, but that’s beside the point). In order to be well listened you have to take some considerable time to figure out what’s out there. Not everyone has the time or patience for that, so that’s my mission here.

The title “Stay Positive-An Idiot’s guide to Current Music” came from the last album by The Hold Steady. At least the “Stay Positive” part. The Hold Steady is one of the best bands of the past decade and kind of represent what I was looking for when looking for new music. If you listen to major radio, chances are you’ve never heard of The Hold Steady. However, they are a critic’s favorite. There’s really no big secret to what they do. They play guitar driven rock music that has a good story behind it. They make it sound simple, yet it seems there really isn’t anyone else out there trying this. So why aren’t they more popular? I have no idea. My quest is to make sure that bands like The Hold Steady and The National get their just due. That being said, they deserve more than this puny little blog can offer, but this is all I got.

I hope to stir up some conversation and point some people to some music they may have never heard before. If you’re an indie listener, you’ll probably have heard all the stuff I’m going to say. But for those who aren’t in sync with the lesser known bands, this is your place. Happy listening.